


It Is Very Unlucky To Fall On Your Face (Unless You Have Someone To Help You Back Up)

by notoriouswriter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: All Of Them Deserve Better, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anyways, Because My Boy Ben Deserves Better, Emotional Support, Eventual Reylo, Eventual stormpilot, F/M, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Fluff For Your Soul (and mine), Hope you enjoy, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, and a lot of it at that, im a sucker for fluff tbh, my tags are a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:09:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22162336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notoriouswriter/pseuds/notoriouswriter
Summary: The war was won, but far from over. All over the universe living creatures were picking up what was left of their homes and families.It was no different for the members of the RESISTANCE on D'QAR and what, or who, was left of the FIRST ORDER. Between collecting the scraps and finding out who they are without the constant threat of being attacked REY, FINN, POE DAMERON and BEN SOLO take on their biggest challenge yet - forgiveness, healing and one or two well kept secrets.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	It Is Very Unlucky To Fall On Your Face (Unless You Have Someone To Help You Back Up)

**Author's Note:**

> Bear with me, doing some 'splaining at the end!

It was a spur of the moment decision, a reflex almost, when Ben Solo held Rey tightly, giving her some of his now very limited energy so that she could live. This was not what he wanted. He did not want Rey to die. When he had seen her on the ground, her eyes dim, no life left in her, he had been ready to give his own life for hers without even thinking about it. There was no hesitation when he scooped her up and concentrated on his hands on Rey’s body. It felt almost natural to transfer his energy over to Rey, which was strange, since Force healing had never come easy to Ben in his time as a padawan. Something, however, stopped him from giving her all of him. Ben did not know what is was, but when Rey opened her eyes in his arms nothing mattered anymore, at least for an instant. A smile lit up on Ben Solos face and it was the first time in years.

Both Rey and Ben were severely injured, not even the strange euphoria of the situation could gloss over that fact, and the pair could feel the structure around them crumble. They knew they should be getting out of there as fast as their wounded bodies would permit, and yet they just sat there, holding each other tight. Tears were streaming down their faces when suddenly something shifted. Neither of them knew for certain but they were almost positive it was their unique bond that had kept them alive thus far and was urging them to get out of there and leave Exegol.

There was nothing that held this place together anymore, every last Sith was dead and destroyers were falling from the skies. Everything around them was falling apart, slowly collapsing, deafeningly loud. From there on it was nothing more than a blur and neither of them knew exactly how they made it out, but they eventually did. Their lungs were burning, filled with dust, and they were hurting, but they did not let go of each other, dragged each other along, until they finally reached Luke Sywalker’s X-wing, that Rey had taken to get to Exegol. With horror Rey realised that the X-wing was only equipped with one seat. “We need to get off this planet.”, she mumbled, fumbling with the communication system of the space craft. “T-65 X-wing, Rey to Resistance, do you read me?”, no reaction. She tried again, hoping they were still in reach for her signal, “T-65 X-wing, Rey to Resistance, do you read me?” She did not sound nearly as helpless as she felt, afraid they would find their end on this dying planet. When there was still no response to her call, she let out a frustrated cry.

During all this Ben Solo had stood beside her, silently watching, unable to speak, until he brought his hand up to Rey’s face, cupping her cheek, and he said, “Go, Rey. Leave me here. I do not deserve to live on. I have to pay for what I have done and I would rather go out doing some good than live, despised by the universe. Please, just go.” Rey would not hear any of it and shied away from the touch. She looked in the eyes of the man in front of her and declared, “Out of the question. Either we both live or we both die. I will not lose you like this.”, and turned back to the communicator, giving it one more try, “T-65 X-wing, Rey to Resistance, do you read me?” For a few seconds there was nothing but the collapsing planet around them but then suddenly the radio came to life, transmitting a familiar voice, “Loud and clear. Rey, what in the universe are you still doing on that planet! You need to get away from there.” “Poe! Thank the Force you got my transmission. We- I mean I am stranded. The X-wing won’t start. Can you send the Falcon? A transporter? Anything?”, she asked, as inconspicuously as humanly possible. She was counting on the urgency of the situation to stop whoever came to pick her up from asking too many questions about the man formerly seen as their greatest enemy. Just a few moments later Poe answered, “The Millennium Falcon is on its way to you. Hold tight!” She turned to Ben, relieved to have found a solution, but was met with a dark expression on his face. “They will never let me on board and why would they. I am the enemy, Rey.”, he said, anger apparent in his voice. If not for the weakness he felt after their encounter with Palpatine and healing Rey, he would have forced her into the seat of that X-wing. But since it was what it was, the Jedi adamantly stood her ground with the little strength she had left inside of her, “No. Forget it. I will get you out of here and I don’t want to hear any more about leaving you here, you hear me? Let me handle this. Don’t say a word and stay behind me.” Even though he looked like he wanted to protest, he did not say anything further, knowing that Rey would not end up agreeing anyways.

It did not take long for the legendary Millennium Falcon to reach Exegol. Finn was the first one to run out of the spacecraft, smiling broadly at his friend. When he realised who was with her, however, he stopped in his tracks and pulled out a blaster. “Not another move, Ren. It is over. You lost. Now let her go.”, he snarled, ready to fight the much more powerful man. Rey lifted her hands placatingly, “He’s not holding me hostage, Finn. I have no time to explain it right now, but we need to take him with us to D’Qar to get immediate medical attention.” “As do you apparently. And a psych evaluation. We can’t take him with us! He’s the enemy! You know that best of all of us!”, Finn exclaimed, fearing the Supreme Leader of the freshly fallen First Order had her under some sort of mind control. Rey could feel Ben stiffening behind her, getting ready to jump her friend, so she turned her head back around to look him in the eyes with a look that clearly communicated ‘Please don’t’. “Finn! The whole planet is crumbling, we need to leave now. Please, trust me on this! Who’s flying the falcon?”, Rey pleaded. The former stormtrooper sighed deeply, “Alright, but we’ll take him into custody. He’s not roaming around our ship freely. General Lando is the pilot, why?” Without any further explanation Rey pulled Ben towards the Falcon, saying to Finn, “Lando will understand why I need to take him. I trust it you know how to fly an X-wing?” Utterly baffled Finn looked at her, “Uhm, yes I do. Why? I thought it was grounded.” “I needed another way of transport, the X-wing can’t transport two people. It is Luke’s, I don’t want to leave it here. Please, Finn!”, the Jedi begged. Finn agreed under protest and then they finally got off Exegol, leaving it behind as a hollow shadow of what it once was.

During the whole flight back to D’Qar Rey and Ben did not exchange a single word, but there was no need to. Their bond was tighter than ever and they could both feel each other’s emotions as if they were their own. Lando and Chewbacca had needed a lot less convincing than Finn, but the general still made Rey tie Ben’s hands. After that was done, they both near collapsed into their chairs, bodies aching from the exhaustion and the injuries that they had acquired. 

Once they landed, Rey was barely clinging to consciousness. Fighting to stay awake, she looked over to Ben and said as insistently as she could, “I will handle this.”  
Before the two of them could even attempt to walk out of the Millennium Falcon, Finn and Poe came running towards the ship. Finn had apparently told his friend about who Rey was bringing into their base. “What the fuck is he doing here?”, Poe shouted, looking ready to attack any second. Once more Rey spoke, voice breaking up, “Poe, Finn, don’t…please make sure he’s looked after. He-he saved my…” Before she had a chance to finish what she was saying, her body finally gave in and the world around her turned pitch black. The last thing she could hear before completely losing consciousness, was her friends worriedly calling out her name. At the very least, she made it home.

The first thing Rey saw, when she woke up, was the bright light of the small medical wing. It took the Jedi a few seconds to get used to it, but once she did, she carefully started to test out the movement in her body. Everything she tried hurt, but it also seemed like everything was functional. She carefully scanned the room, as far as her slightly blurry vision and her aching head let her. Finn and Poe were both asleep next to her bed, Finn on a chair and Poe on the floor, basically snuggled up against the other one’s leg. That sight would have been adorable, if not for Rey hurting all over. It worried her, that Ben seemed to be nowhere in the room, so she tried to speak to wake up her two friends. All that came out of her throat was a hoarse croaking sound, but that was enough to wake Finn, who immediately jumped up, kicking Poe in the process. “Ouch! Watch where you’re going, idiot!”, he exclaimed, but Finn barely even acknowledged it. Instead he grabbed a cup of water, rushed over to Rey’s bed and smiled at her, “Welcome back!” 

When Rey was done with her water, Poe was also at her bed, with a relieved look on his face, “We were beginning to worry, scavenger!” Rey smiled back at them but grew serious almost immediately. “Where’s Ben?”, she asked, voice still a little hoarse. Both Poe and Finn looked at her as if she had just asked them to catch an Antarean poisonous butterfly with their bare hands. With furrowed brows, Poe finally spoke up, “Yes, Rey, we are also fine, thank you for asking. What’s your deal with Ren? Why so attached all of a sudden? Do I need to remind you of all the things he did?” Rey just looked up at them steadfastly, “I’m glad you two are okay and I will explain in due time, but for now I need to know where you put him!” Towards the end she slightly raised her voice and looked at her friends expectantly. Before she even could get an answer, against all her bodily instincts, she started sitting up. “He was better off than you and he’s doing alright. We have him in custody.”, Finn explained, extending his arms to stop his injured friend. “You should rest, Rey. You were hurt really badly.”, he added but aforementioned Rey did not even think of settling down without seeing the man that saved her life. “Where?”, she asked, having regained the usual authority in her voice. Since talking her out of it was not an option, Poe carefully helped his friend with getting out of her hospital bed, and said, “We’ll take you to him. Rey.” “I’ll go alone.”, she protested but the fact that her legs almost gave out when she put pressure on them, told her, that it was no use.

Reluctantly the Jedi put her arms around her friends’ shoulders on either side and let them escort her to one of their makeshift prison cells. Ben Solo was restlessly walking back and forth in said cell and almost jumped at the sight of the three friends. “Rey! Are you alright?”, the tall prisoner asked, not at all sounding like the Supreme Leader of anything. Both Finn and Poe were visibly more than just a bit taken aback by the way that Kylo Ren acted. Being Rey’s friends, however, they decided to trust her, at least as long as Ren was incapacitated and not an immediate threat to anyone. The Jedi freed herself from her friends’ arms and slowly walked towards Solo, “I am. I’m not yet fully healed but I will in due time. All thanks to you. Have they treated you decently?” She looked at Ben, when he slowly walked towards her. Before he could say anything, Rey turned around to Poe and Finn, who were obviously baffled by the conversation that unfolded in front of their eyes, and pleaded, “Can you let me talk to him alone, please? I will call for you, when we are done.” Poe was about to protest, but Finn put his hand on the shorter one’s shoulder and softly shook his head. They both left, more or less without reluctance, and tended to their duties as the new generals of the Resistance or something of the sort.

Now Rey’s undivided attention was on Ben Solo, who now stood right in front of her. The only thing separating them was the force field, that was supposed to hold the former Supreme Leader inside his cell. “There is no logical reason for you to thank me. After all I-”, Ben began, but he seemed unable to finish it.

When Rey finally took a good look at the man in front of her and was astounded by the lack of authority he was portraying. It was not that he was not still intimidating, with his tall build, broad shoulders and dark charisma, but he had lost the threatening aura that he had seemed to always radiate. He almost looked like a frightened boy, standing there, shoulders sunken in, lips pressed together, avoiding Rey’s eyes. “I am still alive, I couldn’t have asked to be treated any better.”, he added, still not directly looking back at the Jedi in front of him. Rey lifted one of her hands and let it hover over the force field and demanded, “Ben, look at me.” His jaw visibly clenched at the mention of his name, but he complied and stared right back into Rey’s eyes. For a few moments, they just stood there and stared, until Ben looked away once again. When he caught onto the fact that her hand was hovering in front of the force field, he brought his own hand up to match hers, so that they would be touching, if not for the glowing barrier. He wanted nothing more than to touch her hand, feel the warmth of them, feel her blood running through her veins, but they were kept separated, which felt a lot similar to all the time they spent as enemies.

A few minutes went by, the two just standing and staring, until Ben whispered, “Thank you, Rey.” She exhaled shakily and slowly took her hand down, “Don’t thank me.” “What else should I do? You need to let me do something!”, Ben was getting angry. He was not used to these kinds of emotions and could not rationally process them, which frightened and irritated him to no end. Rey flinched at his tone and took a step back. “You need to go. I can’t trust you, not yet. All the things you did – no – all the things Kylo Ren did, I will need time.”, the Jedi said, voice shaking a bit. Ben Solo’s face immediately darkened, and he barked, “I am not Kylo Ren, not anymore! Kylo Ren is dead! I am Be- “, his voice broke and his eyes glazed over, “Actually, I-I don’t know who I am.” In the end his voice was nothing more than a whisper, barely audible, and he looked frightened of this realisation. He had denied the name Ben Solo for so long, he did not feel like he deserved it anymore. And, like he had said, Kylo Ren was dead, nothing more than a bad memory, a nightmare, a sword of Damocles forever hanging over his head. He was at a breaking point, tears flooding his eyes and tying his tongue. It took all he had not to start sobbing on front of Rey, so he turned his back to her.

It pained Rey to see him like that, but she had no idea as to how this could be made any easier for him. She just went with what she felt, and softly spoke, “You may not know who you are, but I do. I know you. We are connected, you know we are. You are Ben Solo and you saved my life. And don’t think I don’t know you were ready to give your life for mine. And I will forever be grateful for that. The only thing holding me back now, is that I am not able to trust you yet. I need time, as do you. Time to think, to process, time to make peace with the past, time to forgive yourself. Once you have done that, I will be ready to start trusting you, as will the others. It is going to take a lot of work, but you can turn this around, if you want to. So now my question: Do you want to give this your all, Ben Solo?”  
Breathing heavily, trying to swallow down his tears, the former Supreme Leader turned back around and looked at Rey. His jaw was still clenched, but he stood a bit straighter than he did before and there was a shimmer of conviction in his eyes. “I am ready to do this.”

Without much hesitation Rey called for Poe and Finn, who were back at the cell suspiciously quickly. Not giving much thought to their quick appearance, Rey turned to them, signalled for them to go speak outside and then sternly explained, “You need to let him go. He won’t do any harm but he needs to leave here.” Both her friends looked at her as if she was speaking Ewokese. “You want us to do what?”, Finn asked, supressing the urge to feel Rey’s forehead to see if she had a fever. “We absolutely cannot do that, Rey. He needs to pay for his actions!”, Poe added, clearly agitated by the mere thought of letting their prisoner roam freely around the universe. “I know how crazy I sound, but you weren’t there, you don’t know what happened, you don’t know him like I do. Please, you need to trust me!”, Rey pleaded, looking from Poe to Finn and back. The X-wing pilot just crossed his arms and replied, “It doesn’t sound crazy, it sounds absolutely demented. But if you would care to explain to us what your sudden fascination with the Supreme Leader of the First Order is based on there’s a small chance Finn and I might be able to follow what’s going on in your mind.” Finn stood to his right, arms also crossed in front of his chest, looking down at Rey expectantly.

With a defeated sigh the Jedi began to tell her friends about everything that happened on Exegol. She left nothing out, told them everything from her being Palpatine’s descendant to Ben Solo, who was not Kylo Ren any longer, almost giving up his own life for hers. She also told them about the strength and nature of the bond between herself and their prisoner, as far as she understood it at least. Finn and Poe listened to her with wide eyes but did not interrupt her. Once the Jedi was done talking, she looked at them with a pleading look in her eyes. “Okay, okay, hold on a second! Senator Palpatine is your grandfather?”, Finn exclaimed, putting a hand on Rey’s shoulder. She just nodded and retaliated with, “Yes, but that’s neither my point nor do I intend to talk about it further. My point is that we need to let Ben go.” Poe furrowed his brows, “Are you certain he is not going to find a new way to strike against us. It’s a great risk. Especially now that he knows where we are located. I know the war is won, but he is powerful. You know that better than anyone.” Rey looked him in the eyes and said with all seriousness she could muster, “I have never been more certain of anything. It is not, that I trust him, no, but I know he won’t do anything like that ever again, he can’t. Kylo Ren is dead. This is Ben Solo, General Leia’s son, and he needs to leave this place, be on his own for a while.” The last few sentences she spoke seemed to strike a chord with Poe and Finn, they had both adored Leia Organa and knew she had never lost faith in her son, not really, so they accepted Rey’s proposal.  
It took a bit more convincing, but eventually they agreed to give Ben Solo one of their older, smaller ships so he could leave D’Qar. The two generals’ one condition, however, was to escort him out of the cell and to the ship during daytime, so that people knew what was going on and nobody thought it was a conspiracy, helping their own prisoner escape after nightfall.

The plan was set to motion the very next day. Rey had told Ben immediately and he had agreed reluctantly, seeming a bit worried about walking between all the members of the Resistance, but she had promised him she would personally secure that nothing happened to him. That had helped a bit, but there was still something in his expression that Rey could not quite place at first. When she realised it was guilt, she felt a wave of affection well up inside of her and she tried to reassure him with a sympathetic look. When it was finally time to get Ben out of his cell, Rey walked up and down in front of it, until Poe finally shut off the force field. The no longer prisoner was tense, almost like a tiger that was ready to jump any second. Before the four stepped out of the prison wing, the young Jedi brushed her hand against Ben’s. They only touched for a split second, but both Rey and her counterpart could feel their skin tingle where it came in contact with the other’s. Without saying a word, they looked at each other and knew it was time to go.

The walk to the ship went roughly how they expected it to. People stopping what they were doing, whispering and then shouting insults. The hatred in the air was palpable and Rey silently prayed that Ben would not snap. Ben Solo had never felt as watched in his life as in this moment. Ironic, considering that armies of people had followed him these past years. But now, right at this moment, the eyes that were staring, the whispers about him, all those people, ready to attack him alone, it made him hope they would be at his ship soon or he would not be able to guarantee he would not do anything vastly stupid. The only thing that kept him sane in that moment was Rey walking beside him.

Luckily enough, they reached the ship, that they had purposely parked a bit away from the others, so that no one would surprise them. The two generals were still sceptical if this was a good idea, but they trusted Rey and really hoped she was right with this one. The way that the former Supreme Leader had acted since he had arrived with Rey helped soothing their doubts, but it was not enough, not by a long shot, so they had taken a few precautions, such as hacking the navigation system of the ship, so they would always know where in the universe he was.

The relief Ben Solo felt once they arrived at the spacecraft was only matched and at the same time by far excelled by how he had felt when Rey had opened her eyes after he had healed Rey on Exegol. Without hesitation he got into the seat of the ship and quickly scanned the controls. “I think I am ready.”, he said, silently enough for Finn and Poe not to hear. Rey nodded slightly and put her hand on Ben’s shoulder, careful to block her friends’ sight. “Take care of yourself. You know how to contact me. Good luck”, she whispered, before she turned away and took a few steps back. She faintly heard Ben say, “Thank you, for everything.”, when she was still close enough. Soon thereafter the ship started and Ben took off into the endless depths of the universe.

Rey stood there, watching after him, for just a bit too long and Finn tapped her shoulder, “You should get back to your bed, Rey. You still need to heal.” The Jedi spun around to look at her friend, “I will not waste any more time. I will resume my training immediately. Thank you, for doing all this on just my word. I know this was a difficult decision.” Towards the end she sounded softer and displayed deep gratitude. Poe boxed Finn in the arm, saying jokingly, “Come on, idiot, let’s leave her alone. She’s a big girl, she can take care of herself.” The taller one smiled wonkily and looked from the pilot back to Rey, “Alright, alright, but I want to talk to you first. Alone.” “You finally gonna tell her what you wanted to say when we were drowning in quicksand? Because we’re all dying to know.”, Poe, whose mood suddenly seemed to be a lot worse, sneered as he rolled his eyes and started to walk off towards some other rebels. Finn looked at Rey pleadingly until she grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt and dragged him to a place where they could be sure they would not be disturbed. “So, what’s on your mind?”, the Jedi asked, already having a slight suspicion of what she might finally hear out of her friend’s mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, people of the internet!  
> As the cranky millennial I am I could not just let JJ Abrams tear my heart in two and shred my soul into tiny little pieces the way he tried to with The Rise Of Skywalker.  
> To be perfectly honest, it could have been a lot worse, but I cried thrice and desperately needed to fix some stuff myself.  
> This is my first attempt at a multi chapter fan fiction and I will do my best and try to upload one chapter every week.
> 
> If you find any mistakes, I would be very thankful if you would point them out to me, since neither me nor my beta-readers are native English speakers.  
> Kudos, comments and constructive criticism are always more than welcome and are a big motivator to go on! 
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy!  
> Buckle up for a wild ride!


End file.
